Joy Juice and Stallions - the challenges of brand names.

I'm in Brazil for the winter (their summer) and whenever I come across this chain in Sao Paulo, Joy Juice, I'm reminded of the challenges involved in coming up with a brand name which has global appeal. There are many stories about excruciating brand name mistakes and unintended 'double entendres'.

However, I thought there might be room for one more. In the early 80's I worked for an agency which handled the Mitsubishi Colt car account. I dearly hope this story is not apocryphal; it certainly did the rounds of the agency at the time and I believe it to be true. Mitsubishi were introducing a new high powered sports car and the Japanese owners wanted a unique name for the UK market - they also knew what that name should be.  The new car was duly branded the Mitsubishi Colt Starion (and here's a picture of a young Jeremy Clarkson standing by one).

There was some bewilderment in the agency as to what a

'Starion' actually was but nevertheless a dynamic new ad campaign was created for this thoroughbred sportscar. And therein lies the clue because when the senior Japanese executives came over for the launch they started saying to their UK counterparts how pleased they were they had named the car after the powerful imagery of a male horse and how all the associated connotations were exactly right for this vehicle. The British executives looked at each other in bewilderment and then it slowly dawned on them what had been lost in translation, or in this case a very strong Japanese accent.

'A Copa' is obviously a major talking point in Brazil at the moment and the excitement is already beginning to mount here. My Brazilian relatives and friends find it highly amusing that pasty white Englishmen will be playing in the heat and humidity of Manaus, a city even Brazilian players can't countenance playing in. However here's a brand the England team might want to try at Breakfast! After all we are going to need all the help we can get....